The protest led to media opportunities for Christian Action Co-ordinator, Taryn Hodgson, to speak on radio talk shows, including national secular radio station SA FM and other short interviews for radio news slots and daily newspapers.

We praise God for the opportunity to use this issue as a springboard for talking about the havoc pornography is wreaking on South Africa and the importance of strengthening our families according to God’s Word.

One of the callers to the SA FM talk show complained that we were just aiming for a “soft target” that won’t “really effect the morals of this nation”. My reply was that yes, this is a soft target and that is exactly why we are targeting them. This is a reachable, tangible goal if we all pull together. When God, by His grace, grants us the victory, it will be an encouragement to tackle the pornography plague in other spheres.

We received a response to our letter to the e-TV director, in which e-TV denied the link between pornography and sexual abuse.

In their letter e-TV’s Regulatory Affairs Executive Officer Olefile Bop Tshweu, said “We submit that in broadcasting these films the timeslot is appropriate, the warnings are adequate, the content does not breach the Code and there is no evidence that these films contribute to sexual crimes.”

e-TV contends that their programmes are “soft-core porn” and therefore are not harmful.

Even so-called soft core pornography, however, has been shown to fuel sexual abuse. It desensitizes the viewer by objectifying the women. This can lead to addiction and a desire to view more hard-core material.

Porn on free-to-air national TV is outrageous. There are many parentless homes in South Africa and many homes where children are not supervised as to what TV they are watching. R18 restrictions are not enough to prevent children from watching these films. We have in our hands testimonies from Safeline and Teddy Bear Clinic counselors who have counseled children who have sexually abused other children. They say that many of the children they have counseled say they have watched the Emanuelle porn films on e-TV.

Shaheda Omar, therapeutic manager at Teddy Bear Clinic in Johannesburg, has interviewed 100 child sex offenders and their mothers from across the social spectrum for her doctoral research project at Johannesburg University. In most cases she found that absent parents and “unmet emotional needs” had turned television into a “surrogate care-giver” with disastrous consequences. While some children claimed they had wanted to emulate love scenes in soap operas like the Bold and the Beautiful, others said they had been inspired by late night pornography on e-TV (Cape Times, Child on Child Violence Out of Control, 22 October 2006).

We cannot believe that e-TV feels no sense of social responsibility for the harm they are causing. Considering that South Africa has some of the highest rape statistics in the world and one of the highest HIV prevalence rates, can e-TV (and other broadcasters) afford to be contributing to these disastrous statistics through the negative sexual grooming of children and adults in this nation?

Pornography degrades and exploits people made in the image of God. Pornography is the theory, rape is the practise. We need to honour women by giving them real protection and respect. We need to ban pornography and execute rapists. We need to let children be children.

We urge advertisers who are currently advertising during these films to discontinue advertising during these exploitative films. We also urge people to boycott their products.

Other protests and prayer meetings outside the e-TV studios in Durban, Bloemfontein and Johannesburg are planned during July and August.

What You Can Do:

1. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper, while the issue is still in the public eye.

2. Email your concerns to e-TV and request that all pornographic films or programmes be completely removed from all future broadcasts. Copy all letters to ICASA and the Broadcasting Complaints Commission (this helps them to gauge public opinion).

ICASA:
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BCCSA:
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e-TV:
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Phone the e-TV National Office in Johannesburg and ask to speak to the director. Request a meeting to share your objections to these programmes as a concerned parent or citizen. Tel: 011-537 9300.

2. If you live in Johannesburg, Bloemfontein, Durban, or Port Elizabeth you can also demonstrate and/or pray out side the e-TV studios/offices. Please let us know if you are interested in organizing a similar prayer meeting or demonstration. Contact us for appropriate literature to distribute or for suggested slogans for posters.

3. Pray that God would move the hearts of the e-TV directors to remove these offensive pornographic programmes from their channel. Pray that more churches would get involved in discipling their congregations in finding freedom from sexual addictions and mobilizing their members to combat the pornography plague.